Paint and Pixels

Little Miss Religianity

Today I finally finished the first of three paintings that I will be presenting at an art show on November 1st. I had better not spend as much time on my next two, or else they will certainly not be finished in time. As its title, Little Miss Religianity, reflects, this painting is the product of my reoccuring contemplations on the connection between spirituality and religion, and how those two elements make up Christianity. By "spirituality" I mean the purely non-physical aspect of Christianity and by "religion" I mean the tangible parts of the Christian culture, such as icons and rituals.

A couple weeks ago me and the kids visited my parents' church in the Springs. It is held in a beautiful down town church building with traditional stained glass windows and ornate architecture. Besides that, it is almost like we are members at that church just as much as our regular church in Denver, because when we come in, everyone always remembers our names and who we are, despite the fact that we usually haven't been there for a half year or so. As we were singing praise songs, Rocket and Roxanne began dancing in the aisle together. As we sang the words "Your glory fills the earth", the morning sunlight poured in through the stained glass windows with a warm amber glow and highlighted Roxanne's stringy hair and soft arms that pranced through the air. It was like something out of a dreamy music video. I began to notice how the sunlight was just like God's glory twinkling on everyone in the room- and on my own soul.


That was one example of how God (a purely spiritual being) can manifest himself in a physical way. Analogies like this can be found all over the place. Two physical analogies that point to the spiritual realm that the Bible specifically mentions are baptism and communion. But beyond that, people have come up with all different kinds of physical reminders of God- some that have become icons and some that have not. The Virgin Mary on the little girls dress is usually depicted in a Catholic context. I don't buy the Catholic doctrine concerning the mother of Jesus, however, I think the Catholic imagery of Mary is beautiful and has played a huge part in the history of art and Christianity. The cross is an obvious reminder of Jesus, although its prominence has made it more purely an icon in our culture today. Other than those two obvious religious objects, the painting is filled with other physical things that I consider religous because they can depict analogies of spirituality- the lighthearted joy of a child, lense flares that make you think God must of touched the lense of your camera, sweet food, a seemingly weightless bird, a bandaid that is covering a wound, and dandelions who's seeds will at any moment be floating along with the dust in the wind.